Exploring new expressions of community for your church?
If you’re a church thinking of making the most out of your underutilised spaces, we’re here to help.
Church buildings can be an opportunity for sustainable and missional projects to flourish, benefitting your church, your local community and supporting your charitable aims. Whether you already have a vision, or have an empty building and need ideas, we would love to share our expertise with you and help you figure out the next step on your journey.
We understand the challenges that come with pioneering, especially when it involves building projects.
We start by hearing your ideas and vision for your church spaces. Then we build, test and develop the project through to completion. From community consultation, business planning and fundraising, down to the day-to-day operational skills needed to run your project.
We’ve done it before. And, we can’t wait to do it again. Have a read of the pathway below, and get in touch if you would like to start exploring your project with our support.
Stages
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30 minute initial phone call with the ARK base team to share your idea with us, get some initial feedback, and hear more of our own ARK story.
Book a call: Find a time -
2 hour consultation call with your team to discuss in greater detail your project. We’ll look at possible challenges and creative solutions. We’ll also help you discern the next practical steps toward making your project a reality.
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We will meet you on site, spend a day working with your team, hearing your vision for the ways your space can impact your community for good.
We’ll share our personal experience of running ARK over the past 8 years, both the highs and lows, but more importantly we want to hear your heart and hopes for your space. Together, we will workshop the challenges and millstones ahead, and begin to envision what your creative community could look like in reality.
We have found the practical, relational and vision based work we do really comes alive in the context of seeing your building, experiencing your community and meeting your team.
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All ideas need to be tested.
The best way to start is to conduct a consultation of the local community assessing, the demographic and it’s needs.
We will undertake a feasibility study for you, including market research, initial financial modelling, and concept designs.
This is a great way to draw in other stakeholders for their feedback, including members of your congregation and local area, and consider the costs and fundraising that would be required.
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We will draw together everyone’s feedback by pulling together a more detailed proposal that can be used for fundraising and committee approvals.
This includes firming up the financial modelling, finalising designs, and incorporating the types of systems and processes needed in place to work with your existing operational structures.
We can work alongside experts, such as architects, building control, structural engineers, Health & Safety consultants, to finalise plans for the space so that it can be "ready to go".
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Everything you need to run your day-to-day business.
We’ll share our know-how, policies, and basic training for the leader of your space, giving them advice & pastoral support as they journey through the setting up of a new space. This includes equipping you with contract templates, health and safety processes, cleaning guidelines and more.
Fundraising is a big component to come together to release the potential for your space. We will work with you to identify grant-making bodies and other financial support to help you reach your target. We’re able to work in a phased way, so can adapt plans to release activity with your fundraising milestones.
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Our help doesn’t have to stop once you’ve started.
We’d love to continue collaborating to guide you through start-up phase and on into a sustainable business is available for all the snags in the road. Meet other likeminded enterprises also on the journey and share experiences.